Exploring Teachers’ Strategies for Dealing with Students with Speech Impairments in the EFL classroom.

Abstract

The current study is an attempt to investigate teachers’ strategies for students with speech impairments. It aims to explore English as a foreign language university teachers’ strategies for these students. Accordingly, within the context of the current study, three research questions were raised: what are the most effective strategies of EFL university teachers for students with speech impairments? What modifications do teachers face when implementing strategies to support speech impaired students? What challenges do teachers face when implementing modified communication strategies for students with speech impairments? To obtain the necessary data, a questionnaire was administered to thirty Algerian university teachers of English as a foreign language classroom. The major research findings reveal that speech impairments do affect the students’ academic performance and that modified strategies do make a positive impact on the speech impaired students. Eventually, the research work offers a variety of recommendations for teachers and future research with the purpose of drawing more attention to speech impaired students.